Smart enough to recognize that when my son stops talking for two years after his first set of shots (we held off for a year on any shots because he has an older autistic brother), the shots might have something to do with it.
I believe that there is a genetic component to this, but that vaccines can trigger the autistic symptoms. Immunizations are a medical procedure, and we should be able to refuse them without being bullied by pediatricians, schools officials and the county health department. If you are worried about these benign childhood diseases, you can go ahead and get the shots yourself. If they work as well as advertised, you will have no worry of getting the chicken pox.
I don't think these diseases are all that benign. Infants die from whopping cough. . .